Random access memories --- Daft Punk --- Recommended by everyone
Yeah yeah I know: it's about bloody time you old progger you! Get with the program etc. First of all, I know or knew nothing of this band, second all I heard (other than knicker-melting praise from every quarter) was that it used a lot of vocoders and was like seventies disco, two things I do not like. So I thought it ain't for me. You all probably know by now I'm not one to just jump on the bandwagon and say I like an album just because everyone else digs it (cough) Loveless (cough)!
But flash forward a few months and I'm watching TV and an ad comes on for this album. They play "Get lucky" and I think hell that ain't bad at all! So I take the chance and download the album and ... well, read on.
The thing that perhaps got me over my hatred of vocoders was listening to YorkeDaddy's album, "Frownland". When I listened to the opener on this I just sort of thought of "Welcome to the party" (whaddya mean, you haven't heard cloudcover's album yet? Get to their website asap!) and things began to slot into place. I really enjoyed the first track and then was surprised at how mellow it all went. I was expecting dancy, disco vibes and what I got, er, wasn't. It was all a lot slower, mostly, and more ambient than I had been prepared for.
Even the faster tracks, such as "Lose yourself to dance" and of course "Get lucky" I found I really liked, though you can keep "Doin' it right", and as for "Giorgio by Moroder"? Come on: the idea's cool but do you really want to hear our Giorgio talk about his dreams about being a musician and how he discovered synthesisers when you're playing the album for the eleventh time? It wears real old real quick. The problem is that the music backing it is so good that I can't just skip it. Bah. Maybe there's some way to strip out his vocal?
Everything else I like, and this is, rather belatedly admittedly, becoming one of my most spun albums of the last week or so. I love the closer too: the energy and sense of fun in "Contact" is just a perfect one to end on. Overall I'm extremely impressed, and though as I say I held out for a good while I'm now down with all you guys and girls and may even buy a robot mask.
Note: I will not be buying a robot mask.
Rec rating: 9/10 (Only loses out because of Giorgio bloody Moroder and his waffling....)